Mercury pool damping means



Sept. 5, 1939. E. e. BANGRATZ MERCURY POOL DAMfING MEANS Filed Jan. 21, 1937 WITNESSES:

INVENTOR 5777652 6 Bang/"dz.

ATTORN EY Patented Sept. 5, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,172,185 MERCURY POOL DAMPING MEANS Ernest G. Bangratz, Churchill Borough, Pa., as-

ing Company,

tion of Pennsylvania Application January 21, 1937, Serial No. 121,590

3 Claims.

struction;

form the work, in other words,

may be made per minute. In Fig. 1 is illustrated device which has been found especially suitable containing the anode II with its lead-in I2 and a mercury pool I3 with its cathode lead-in I4.

It will be understood that mercury is used are considered the full patent equivalent thereof. A make alive starter assembly I 5 is disclosed with the tip I6 of high resistance carborundum or boron carbide normally immersed in the surface of the mercury.

The cathode spot which always starts at the which the mercury is not in contact with the If at this moment, it is the tube would not function. It is also possible that if the tip of high resistance material I 6 were very short that a big wave would occur portions I5 and the starter ther complicate matters, the repeated group shots The resultant Wave will expose the tip of the starting electrode I6. The tube will be inoperative if it is desired to start the tube at this particular moment. The mass motion of the mass oscillation of the mercury pool.

It is an object of my invention to eliminate immore, I make the juncture between the large shallow part I8 and the at I9. The result will be that a wave will be damped by the shallow portions I8 and by the sharp edge I9. The shallow part at Cooling means applied to the bottom of the tube would be very efiective on the shallow part I8.

I8 should I prefer, however, to also utilize actual dampers. These dampers may take various forms and location but in Fig. 3, I have illustrated a preferred embodiment. This preferred embodiment is a ring of apertured material either of perforated solid material or mesh. I prefer mesh screen of about 30 mesh located just below the mercury surface. This ring of mesh permits the mercury to pass therethrough but damps any rapid passage. The ring is held in position by supports 2| which may be strips of nickel spot welded to the ring and to the top of the lead-in 22. The lead-ins in the larger tubes are molybdenum rods to which has been welded a nickel disk 23, preferably l" in diameter, which helps collect the cur-. rent from the mercury. The damping grid should extend from the pool edge radially inward a distance which may be but a fraction of the pool diameter. The damping grid need not have a hole in the middle of the diameter thereof but, if this -hole is omitted, the damping grid should then be of molybdenum or tungsten and the starter electrode should not touch it. Otherwise the grid material may be of nickel, iron, etc.

While in accordance with the patent statutes, I have described preferred embodiments of my invention, yet it is apparent that many changes may be made in the form and arrangement of elements Without departing from the spirit of my invention. Accordingly, I desire only such limitations to be imposed on the following claims as are necessitated by the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

1. An arc discharge device comprising a casing having an anode and a mercury pool as cathode therein, an auxiliary starting device immersed in mercury pool during the normal operation of said device, said mercury pool having a surface freely exposed to the arc from the anode, and damping means for waves on said freely exposed mercury surface located entirely below the surface thereof.

2. An arc discharge device comprising a casing having an anode and a mercury pool as cathode therein, an auxiliary starting device immersed in said mercury pool during the normal operation of said device, said mercury pool having a surface freely exposed to the are from the anode, and apertured damping means for waves on said freely exposed mercury surface located entirely below the surface thereof.

3. An arc discharge device comprising a casing having an anode and a mercury pool therein, a lead-in immersed in said pool during the normal operation of said device and annular damping means secured to said lead-in and an auxiliary starting electrode immersed in said pool in the central opening of said annular damping means.

ERNEST G. BANGRATZ. 

